SHAHIDAN Kassim and Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan have been appointed Umno liaison chairman for Perlis and Selangor, as Ahmad Zahid Hamidi works to unite the state chapters.

Party secretary-general Annuar Musa said the party president wanted to make permanent appointments to the positions.

Earlier, the Perlis unit was headed by party vice-president Mohammed Khaled Nordin and Selangor by Ismail Sabri Yaakob. Khalid is from Johor while Ismail Sabri is from Pahang.

Annuar said Shahidan’s deputy will be Padang Besar division chief Zahidi Zainal Abidin, while Mat Nadzari’s deputy is Gombak division chief Megat Zulkarnain Megat Omardin.

“The appointments take effect immediately and their terms will end in 2021,” he said after opening the Parit Sulong Umno division meeting today.

He said the party constitution allowed the party president to appoint state chiefs.

Annuar said Shahidan and Mat Nadzari will be expected to attend the political bureau meeting at Umno’s headquarters on Monday.

He said all state liaison chiefs were members of the party’s political bureau.

On Tuesday, Zahid appointed four Umno division chiefs and a division vice chairman, who are seen as his loyalists, to the Umno Supreme Council.

The move is seen as a bid to strengthen his hold on the party’s highest decisionmaking body following his return from six months’ of garden leave.

The appointed chiefs are Mohd Puad Zarkashi (Batu Pahat), Johan Abd Aziz (Hulu Langat), Shaik Hussein Mydin (Bagan) and Yaakub Khan (Sepanggar). Seputeh deputy chief Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafii was also appointed.

The new appointments replace a raft of Sabah leaders who had quit Umno – Kimanis MP Anifah Aman, Beaufort MP Azizah Mohd Dun, Sulaman assemblyman Hajiji Noor, former Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, and former multimedia and communication minister Salleh Said Keruak. – July 5, 2019.